Monster House (film)
Monster House is a 2006 American 3D computer-animated supernatural horror comedy film directed by Gil Kenan in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Dan Harmon, Rob Schrab and Pamela Pettler about a neighborhood being terrorized by a demonic haunted house. Starring the voices of Mitchel Musso, Sam Lerner, Spencer Locke, Steve Buscemi, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Nick Cannon, Jason Lee, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Kathleen Turner, the film features human characters animated using live-action motion capture animation. Produced by Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, the film was released theatrically by Columbia Pictures on July 21, 2006 to critical and commercial success, grossing $140 million worldwide against a budget of $75 million. Plot The parents of 12-year-old D.J. Walters leave town for the weekend, leaving him in the care of his babysitter Zee. D.J. has been spying on his elderly neighbor Mr. Horace Nebbercracker, who confiscates any item landing in his front yard. After D.J.'s best friend Chowder loses his basketball on Nebbercracker's lawn, DJ is caught by Nebbercracker while trying to retrieve it but the enraged homeowner apparently suffers a heart attack and is taken away by ambulance. That night, D.J. gets phone calls from the house with no one there, and eavesdrops on Zee's boyfriend Bones telling Zee about losing his kite in Nebbercracker's lawn when he was younger and that Nebbercracker supposedly ate his wife. Later, Bones sees his kite in the house's front door but is suddenly devoured by the whole house alive while attempting to retrieve it. Meanwhile, D.J. meets up with Chowder, and the two investigate the house, but retreat when it comes alive and attacks them. The next morning, a girl named Jenny Bennett is selling Halloween candy, to which D.J. and Chowder see her going to the house; they rush out to save her before she gets eaten by it. Jenny then calls police officers Landers and Lister, but they do not believe the trio. The trio consult Reginald "Skull" Skulinski, supposedly an expert on the supernatural. They learn from him that the house is a rare monster that is created when a human soul merges with a man-made structure and that it can only be killed by destroying its heart. Concluding that the heart must be the furnace, the trio create a dummy containing cold medicine stolen from Chowder's father's pharmacy. Before the dummy reaches the house, Landers and Lister return, thwart their plan and arrest them after Landers finds the stolen cold medicine inside the dummy. The house then eats the two officers and their police car in which D.J., Chowder and Jenny have been locked in. When the house falls asleep, the trio begins exploring. In the basement, they find a collection of toys accumulated from Nebbercracker's lawn as well as a door that opens to a shrine containing the body of Nebbercracker's late wife Constance the Giantess encased in cement. The house realizes they are inside and attacks them to which D.J., Chowder, and Jenny force the house to vomit them outside by grabbing its uvula. Nebbercracker then arrives alive and reveals that Constance's spirit is within the house and that he did not eat her but instead had given her some of the happiest times in her life. As a young man he met Constance, then an unwilling member of a circus freak show and fell in love with her despite her obesity. One Halloween, as children tormented her due to her size, Constance tried chasing them away but lost her footing and fell to her death in the unfinished basement. Nebbercracker had finished building the house knowing it was what she would have wanted but aware that Constance's spirit made the house come alive, he pretended to hate children in order to protect them. D.J. tells Nebbercracker it's time to let Constance go, but the house overhears this. Enraged, it breaks free from its foundation and chases the group to a construction site. Nebbercracker attempts to distract the house so he can blow it up with dynamite, but the house notices it and attacks him. Chowder fights it off with an excavator while D.J. is given the dynamite by Nebbercracker. While Chowder distracts the house, D.J. and Jenny climb to the top of a crane and D.J. throws the dynamite into the house's chimney, causing it to explode and release Constance's ghost. D.J. apologizes to Nebbercracker for the loss of his home and wife, but Nebbercracker thanks the trio for freeing him and his wife from being trapped for 45 years. Later that night, children in their Halloween costumes are lined up at the site of the house where Nebbercracker, D.J., Chowder and Jenny help return the toys to their owners. As Jenny's mother picks her up and D.J.'s parents return, Chowder and D.J. go trick-or-treating which they previously felt they were too old for. As the credits roll, those who were eaten by the house emerge from the basement. Voice cast , Spencer Locke and Mitchel Musso at the 34th Annie Awards.]] * Mitchel Musso as D.J. Walters * Sam Lerner as Chowder * Spencer Locke as Jenny Bennett * Steve Buscemi as Horace Nebbercracker * Maggie Gyllenhaal as Zee * Kevin James as Police Officer Landers * Nick Cannon as Police Officer Lister * Jason Lee as Bones * Jon Heder as Reginald "Skull" Skulinski * Catherine O'Hara as Mrs. Walters * Fred Willard as Mr. Walters * Kathleen Turner as Constance Nebbercracker * Ryan Newman as Eliza References Category:2006 films Category:English-language films Category:2006 horror films Category:2006 computer-animated films Category:2006 animated films Category:2000s 3D films Category:2000s American animated films Category:2000s children's films Category:Amblin Entertainment films Category:Amblin Entertainment animated films Category:American films Category:American 3D films Category:American animated horror films Category:American supernatural horror films Category:American computer-animated films Category:American comedy horror films Category:American children's fantasy films Category:American haunted house films Category:Children's horror films Category:Columbia Pictures films Category:Columbia Pictures animated films Category:Dark fantasy films Category:Directorial debut films Category:Films directed by Gil Kenan Category:Films produced by Steven Spielberg Category:Films scored by Douglas Pipes Category:Films about Halloween Category:Haunted house films Category:Ghost films Category:Films adapted into video games Category:ImageMovers films Category:Motion capture in film Category:Relativity Media films Category:Relativity Media animated films